Bruno Fernandes has rightly taken criticism for his shocking penalty miss that cost Manchester United a point against Aston Villa.
The 27-year-old Portuguese, who before had scored 21 from his 22 penalties taken for United, blazed his injury-time spot-kick into row Z of the Stretford End.
The point lost would have kept United joint top with Liverpool, after they and Chelsea also dropped points.
However, the performance was not as black and white as it seems.
Fernandes is unfortunate that his hard work prior to the penalty did not reward his team with a goal at some point in the match.
? Bruno Fernandes made 10 key passes for Manchester United against Aston Villa on Saturday; No player has made more in a Premier League match since the start of the 2017/18 season pic.twitter.com/bBkLNpIbr5
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) September 26, 2021
Fernandes made a staggering 10 key passes against Villa. In Lehman’s terms, key passes are just another way of saying chances created.
These key passes, paired with the penalty, helped The Red Devils tot up an xG value of 2.27, while the visitors left with an xG value of 1.46 showcasing that United were profligate in their finishing while The Villans were not.
Aston Villa left Old Trafford with all three points thanks to Kortney Hause’s late header.
But regardless of the overall team performance and his penalty miss, Fernandes can take some respite in the fact that his ability to create is still among the best in the world.